From the Vault: Trades Parade is a Ghost of Fiestas Past

I was helping mySA.com’s Ben Olivo, aka Mr. Downtown, with file photos for slideshows of Fiestas by the decade when I came across a photo described as being from the Trades Parade. I’m a native and I’d never heard of it.

Our local history books didn’t have much on the parade, so I turned to the expert, columnist Paula Allen, who told me that the parade predates Fiesta, with its first appearance at the San Antonio International Exhibit in 1889. Once it joined the Fiesta roster, it was held on Tuesday, and then Wednesday, to draw visitors to town earlier. It is also referred to as the Trades Display Parade.

The point of the parade was to show off San Antonio’s businesses and industries. Souvenirs and samples were tossed from the floats. A float from an early Trades Parade:

George Burnett (extreme left) is shown with others on the horse-drawn float for the R.L. Burnett Company from a Trades Parade of unknown date, but thought to be before 1905. (File Photo)

According to the Express, April 24, 1941, the parade “formed at Avenue E and Fourth Street and moved to Houston Street. On Houston it moved to San Saba Street, then across to Market Plaza. It wound back on Commerce Street to Alamo Plaza, where it disbanded.”

Companies with floats in Trade Parades included: Lone Star Brewing, Pioneer Flour Mills, Handy-Andy, John Deere, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Gebhardt’s and Tom’s Toasted Peanuts–plus those more likely forgotten like Nowotny Taxidermy and Wormser Hat. Cities and towns had the occasional float, for example, the city of San Antonio “displayed its old and new methods of collecting garbage” in 1941. School bands, majorettes, etc. added their own brand of pep.

The 1940 parade was “declared the largest in history” in contemporary reports as 30,000 spectators watched 350 floats, including 135 company “exhibits,” plus bands and other participants. The crowds grew: according to the Light, April 22, 1948, 100,000 spectators lined the streets, but due to a change in policy, “the youthful faces began to register disappointment when the usual samples of gum, candy and food failed to appear.”

The last parade was held in 1949 — the lack of samples and the rainy weather kept the crowds away. On Feb. 1, 1950, the Light reported an announcement from the Fiesta San Jacinto Association that the Trades Parade was being merged with the “illuminated night parade.”